Comments

Revised Common Lectionary Commentary

Clippings:
Second Sunday after Pentecost - June 23, 2019

Saint Dominiccontemplating the Scriptures

Author's note:Sometimes I have material left over when I edit Comments down to
fit the available space. This page presents notes that landed on the clipping
room floor. Some may be useful to you. While I avoid technical language
in the Comments (or explain special terms), Clippings may have unexplained
jargon from time to time.

A hypertext Glossary of Terms is integrated with Clippings. Simply
click on any highlighted word in the text and a pop-up window will appear
with a definition. Bibliographic references are also integrated in the
same way.

1 Kings 19:1-4,(5-7),8-15a

Other stories about Elijah in 1 Kings are:

Elijah’s flight to “Wadi Cherith” (
17:2-7), east of the Jordan, where ravens fed him, per God’s command,

God’s restoring of the widow's son to life, through Elijah (
17:17-24),

It is important to realize how dependent the people of
Palestine were (and still are) on rainfall. The area of land which was arable
varied greatly, depending on the rains.

17:1: “Elijah”: His name means Yah is God. Yah
is a short form for
Yahweh. [
NOAB]

The Canaanite (or Phoenician) god Baal was held to control the rain.
16:30-32 tells us “Ahab son of Omri did evil in the sight of the
Lord more than all who were before him. And as if it had been a light thing
for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam ... , he took as his wife Jezebel daughter
of King Ethbaal of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him. He
erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria”.
[
NOAB] By proclaiming a drought, Elijah issues a challenge to the worshippers
of Baal. [
NJBC]

17:2-7: We do not have Elijah’s calling but his claim to be
Yahweh’s servant is verified by his immediate and meticulous obedience
to the divine word. Like Israel in the desert, Elijah is miraculously provisioned
by Yahweh. [
NJBC]

17:3: “east of the Jordan”: Probably out of Ahab's jurisdiction.
[
NOAB]

17:13: “make me a little cake of it”: The likeness to the
food Yahweh provided in the desert continues: Numbers
11:8 tells us that “The people ... made cakes of it [the manna]; and the
taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil”. Note also the mention
of “oil” in
17:12 [
NJBC]

17:17-24: Some scholars have argued that the child was not really dead,
so no miracle was performed, but this is to miss the point. The writer meant to portray
a powerful God and a worthy prophet. Elisha performs a similar miracle (or sign of
God’s power) in 2 Kings
4:32-37. In Acts
20:9-12, Paul proclaims that Eutychus is alive after he has fallen from a third-floor
window and been thought to be dead. [
NOAB]

18:1-46: Elijah’s role throughout the contest parallels that of
Moses in Exodus
24 and
32. Elijah is a new Moses; the events on Mount Carmel are a new beginning for
the Sinai covenant. [
NJBC]

18:1-6: The text contrasts Ahab, whose concern is to avoid the livestock
dying, with the efforts of his majordomo, Obadiah, who risks his life to avoid the
prophets of
Yahweh being killed by Jezebel. [
NJBC]

18:17-19: Elijah is quick to point out that the fault lies with Ahab in
not recognizing Yahweh as the supreme God, and in allowing his wife Jezebel to propagate
her religion in Israel. [
NOAB]

18:18: “the Baals”: Baal was a god in the religions of several
nations. [
NOAB]

18:19: “Asherah”: One of the consorts of Baal. Sacred poles
were erected as symbols of Asherah. [
NOAB]

18:22-24: Elijah outmanoeuvres the prophets of Baal by proposing the contest
first to the people. [
NJBC]

18:26: “They limped about the altar”: i.e. they performed
a kind of limping dance, bending first one knee and then the other. [
NOAB]
NJBC is less precise (probably with good reason); he calls their dance some
sort of ungainly cultic dance.

18:27: This is one of the sharpest satires on non-Hebraic religion ever
penned. “He has wandered away” is probably a euphemism for attending
to natural needs. [
NOAB]

18:28: Ritualistic gashing of one's self was fairly common: Deuteronomy
14:1 commands: “You must not lacerate yourselves ...”. Leviticus
19:28 contains a similar law. Hosea
7:14 indicates that people of Ephraim rebelled against Yahweh partly by gashing
themselves. See also Jeremiah
16:6;
41:5;
47:5. [
NOAB] The prophets of Baal gash themselves to try to get Baal’s attention.
[
NJBC]

18:29: “the time of the offering of the oblation”: i.e. 3
pm. 2 Kings
16:15 tells us of the various kinds of offerings. In Acts
3:1, Peter and John goto the Temple at 3 pm. [
NOAB]

18:31-32a: These verses are based on Genesis
35:10 (Jacob at Bethel). [
NOAB]

18:32: “he made a trench around the altar”: The purpose of
the trench is unknown. [
NJBC]

18:33-35: In a time of drought, drenching all with water was a priceless
libation, no less vital than the blood shed by the prophets of Baal. These verses
recall the covenant sacrifice of Moses on Mount Sinai (see Exodus
24:4-8). Moses builds a similar altar, involves the people in offering sacrifice,
and pours precious liquid (the blood of the sacrificial animals) over the altar and
the people. [
NJBC]

18:38: “the fire of the Lord
”: Some consider this to be lightning preceding the rain, but the ancient writer
intended to describe a miracle. [
NOAB]

18:40: The slaughter of “the prophets of Baal” is sometimes
interpreted as a vast human sacrifice to
Yahweh, but the people of the time (and the slightly later writer) saw the struggle
between Baal and Yahweh as one of life and death. [
NOAB]

18:41: “eat and drink”: i.e. break the fast which was in effect
during the religious ceremonies. [
NOAB] The meal parallels the covenant meal following the sacrifice on Sinai.
[
NJBC]

18:42: Whether Ahab does indeed “eat and drink” we are not
told. Does he indeed respond to
Yahweh’s demonstrations of power and authority? [
NJBC]

18:45: “Jezreel”: This town was near Mount Gilboa, some 35
km (20 miles) south-east of Mount Carmel. It was used by Ahab as a second place of
residence (see
21:1) the primary capital being Samaria (see
16:24;
20:43;
21:1). See also 1 Samuel
29:1;
31:1. Elijah runs all the way, through the downpour, in his excitement, outrunning
Ahab’s chariots! [
NOAB] [
NJBC]

19:1-8: These verses show that Ahab is still attached to the Baalist cause
of his queen. [
NJBC]

19:3: “Beer-sheba”: Elijah flees about as far as he can –
a distance about 200 km (130 miles)! [
NOAB]

Comments: Elijah asks to be relieved of his mission: See also v.
10: “I have been ...”. He is the reluctant prophet at this point!
[
NJBC]

19:8: “forty days and forty nights”: Exodus
34:28 tells us that Moses “was there with the Lord forty days and forty
nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water”. Elijah does similarly. [
NOAB]

19:13: Elijah has partly obeyed God. Elijah’s question shows that
God expects him to be somewhere else, i.e. “on the mountain before the
Lord” as God has specified, or in Israel. [
NJBC]

19:15-19a: At last,
Yahweh commissions Elijah. He answers each of Elijah’s complaints:

To Elijah’s desire to resign his mission in face of Israel’s
infidelity, Yahweh responds by naming his successor, Elisha

To Israel’s
violence, Yahweh provides military allies in Hazael and Jehu.

To Elijah’s
feeling of isolation, he points out that there are still thousands of faithful in
the land

In fact, Elijah only fulfills the first of the three charges
given to him; Elisha will be responsible for the other two. [
NJBC]

19:15: “wilderness of Damascus”: Now called the Syrian desert.
[
NOAB]

19:18: “seven thousand”: A faithful remnant is also mentioned
in Amos
5:15 (“... the Lord, the
God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph”); Isaiah
10:20 (“On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house
of Jacob ... will lean on the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel, in truth”); Isaiah
11:11 (“On that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to
recover the remnant that is left of his people ...”). [
NOAB]

Psalms 42;43

Superscription: “Korahites”: The Korahites were the Levitical
group responsible for singing in the Temple: see 2 Chronicles
20:19. They are also mentioned in the superscriptions of Psalms
44-49;
84;
85;
87-88. [
HBD]

Comments: Some Jewish Christians had visited Galatia ...: Paul
wrote in
1:6-7: “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called
you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel – not that
there is another gospel, but there are some who are confusing you and want to pervert
the gospel of Christ.” Paul founded churches in Galatia during his first missionary
journey.

Those who are advocating the law are the Judaizers, i.e. Jewish Christians who
see Christianity as still a sect of Judaism, which is still under the Law. Paul argues
vehemently throughout this whole letter against a law-based religion, and in particular
against the Judaizing party. It is probable historically that these were not native
Galatians but itinerant evangelists who were coming after Paul to correct the
error that he had left behind in the various communities where he had planted
churches.

The Judaizers had moved into Galatia after Paul's departure and convinced the
new converts Paul had left behind that they needed to bring themselves under the
Law. There is an obvious attraction in this sort of approach, because it makes life
a lot easier: with a law to follow there is no need for discernment or decision-making.
But for Paul that is not the way forward. Instead, Paul functions with a high (developed)
theology of, and a great deal of trust in, the Spirit.

Verse 15: “no one adds to it or annuls it”:
NJBC offers no one can annul or alter a man’s will. Only the testator
can do so, by cancellation or a codicil, but no one else. So God’s will, made
manifest in his promises and covenant, cannot be altered by “angels”
(v.
19).

Verse 15: “will”: The Greek word, diatheke, means (in
Hellenic Greek) last will or testament. The
Septuagint translators had used diatheke (rather than syntheke,
treaty) to express Hebrew berit (covenant) probably because it characterized
more closely the kind of covenant that God made with Israel, in which, as in a vassal
treaty, stipulations were set by the overlord that Israel was expected to obey. Paul
begins using it in its Hellenic sense, and by v.
17 he has shifted to using it in its Septuagint sense. So the NRSV translates
it there as “covenant”. [
NJBC]

Verse 16: “the promises”: i.e. those made to Abraham: see
Genesis
17:4-8: “the ancestor of a multitude of nations ... exceedingly fruitful
... make nations of you ... establish ... an everlasting covenant, to be God to you
and to your offspring after you ... I will give to you, and to your offspring ...
all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding”. [
CAB]

Verse 16: “offspring”: The word used in Genesis
12:7 (
Yahweh’s promise to Abram);
17:7-8;
22:17-18 is literally seed, a collective singular. [
NOAB] While Abraham had more than one son, only one was the child of the promise,
Christ. [
CAB]

Verse 17: “four hundred and thirty years later”: Paul follows
the chronology found in some manuscripts of the
Septuagint translation of Exodus
12:40, according to which the 430 years included the sojourn of Israel’s
forebears in Canaan and in Egypt; on the other hand the
Masoretic Text of this verse refers to the 430 years as solely the sojourn in
Egypt (thus the NRSV). In Acts
7:6 (Stephen’s speech to the Sanhedrin), the figure is 400 years, a rough
estimate. [
NOAB]

Verse 17: “covenant”: The unilateral disposition diatheke
made to Abraham was not altered by subsequent obligations imposed in Mosaic law.
Thus Paul rejects the Judaizers contention that the covenant promises were subsequently
made conditional to the performance of deeds of the Law. [
NJBC]

Verse 18: “inheritance”: This comes either from the Law or
from Christ, not from both. [
CAB] If inheritance comes from the Law, it is bilateral, not a “promise”
(which is unilateral). “Inheritance” in the
Septuagint translation means the land of Canaan but here it denotes the
blessings promised to Abraham in general. [
NJBC]

Verse 19: “because of transgressions”: The Greek literally
means for the sake of transgressions, so
NJBC translates it as to produce transgressions. He says that the sense
is clear from Romans
4:15;
5:13-14,
20;
7:7-13. In Romans
4:15, Paul says “For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither
is there violation”. [
NJBC] Where there is no law, there is none to break, but where there is one,
it will be broken.

Verse 19: “until the offspring would come”: The Law was a
temporary measure by God: see also vv.
24-25. [
NJBC]

Verse 19: “angels”: In Jewish tradition, angels had a role
in the giving of the Law at Sinai; it was not given directly by God. See Deuteronomy
33:2,
Septuagint translation (NRSV: “holy ones”). This idea is also found
in Acts
7:38,
53; Hebrews
2:2. [
NOAB] Its mode of promulgation reveals its inferiority, when compared with promises
made directly by God. [
NJBC]

Verse 19: “mediator”:
NOAB says Leviticus
26:46 identifies Moses as a mediator between God and God’s people; however
NJBC says that Leviticus
26:46 and Deuteronomy
5:4-5 contain vague allusions to Moses as mediator and that this is the most
likely interpretation of a highly disputed phrase.

Verse 20: “Now a mediator involves more than one party; but God
is one”:
REB has but an intermediary is not needed for one party acting alone, and
God is one;
NJBC offers a similar translation. The translations appearing to be rather different,
let us look at the Greek. A literal translation is: The and/but mediator one not
is, the and/but God one is where and/but translates de (which can
mean and or but).

One can now see the translator’s problem, but not the solution. The King
James Version, being a rather literal translation, is helpful in showing us how many
words had to be inserted to turn the Greek into reasonably coherent English; it shows
these words in italics: “Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but
God is one”. This verse is a perfect example of the difficulty of doing justice
to one language when translating into another. The thought processes are often very
different.

The translators do agree that the first one does not refer to the mediator;
Paul is not saying that the mediator is plural while God is singular: something that
would make no logical sense.

In this case the
REB is a bit more literal in its translation than the NRSV on this point, in
that it expresses the first phrase in the negative, as Paul does, but it still interprets
significantly. Both are trying to get at the same notion: that where there is a mediator,
there are two parties, and where there is only one party there is no need for a mediator.
But/and God is one. In other words, God being one does not require a mediator; hence
the Law is rendered null and void in God's case.

Recall earlier verses: a mediator is only needed in a bilateral agreement (or
dispute); the Law is bilateral but a promise (and the fulfilment) is unilateral.
Both the NRSV and the
REB are correct; they both do the best possible in translating between thought
processes and languages. [Alan T. Perry]

A very free rendering is: There is no need for a mediator where there is only
one party; and God is one. [Therefore in God's case the Law is superfluous.]

Verses 21b-22: Paul says, in Romans
3:20, “For ‘no human being will be justified in his sight’
by deeds prescribed by the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin”
and, in Romans
7:7, “What then should we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet, if
it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what
it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’”.
[
NOAB] The Law cannot give life: v.
11 says “Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law;
for ‘The one who is righteous will live by faith.’”. [
NJBC]

Verse 21: “make alive”: Paul has just written in v.
11: “Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law;
for ‘The one who is righteous will live by faith’”. See also Romans
8:3. [
NJBC]

Verse 21: “righteousness”: God’s act of putting a person
in a right relationship with him. [
CAB]

Verse 22: “scripture”: Two interpretations are possible: the
entire Old Testament biblical tradition, [
NOAB] or the Law and the texts quoted in Romans
3:10-18 (which are from Psalms and Isaiah
59:7-8 and together illustrate the sinfulness of all human beings) . [
NJBC]

Verse 22: “all things”: Two interpretations are possible:

human beings: in Romans
11:32, Paul writes: “... God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that
he may be merciful to all”

all creation, as people were before Christ’s
coming: the Greek word translated “all”, panta, is neuter. See
Romans
8:19-23: “... the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of
the children of God ...”. [
NJBC]

Verse 22: “faith in Jesus Christ”: Per
the NRSV footnote, faith of Jesus Christ is also a good translation. Faith
of Jesus Christ assumes Christ’s faithful obedience unto death (see Romans
5:18-21 and Philippians
2:8) or in becoming incarnate (see Philippians
2:6-8), or the entire ministry of Jesus, possibly involving an interchange with
“all who believe” in God (Romans
4:24) and in Christ (Galatians
3:24). The same Greek phrase also occurs in Romans
3:26; Galatians
2:16,
20; Philippians
3:9. [
NOAB]

Verse 23: “until faith would be revealed”:
NJBC offers in view of the coming revelation of faith. The reign of Law
was divinely ordained to prepare for the coming reign of Christian freedom. In 1
Corinthians
4:3, Paul says “But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged
by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself”. [
NJBC]

Verse 27: “baptized into Christ”: See also Romans
6:3-11 for development of the connection between baptism into Christ and its
implications for daily living. [
CAB] Baptism is the sacramental complement of faith, the rite whereby a person
achieves union with Christ and publicly manifests his commitment. [
NJBC]

be borrowed from Greek mystery religions, in which an initiate identified
himself with the god by donning his robes, or

be Paul’s use of an
Old Testament expression for adoption of another’s moral dispositions or outlook.
In Job
29:14, Job says: “I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice
was like a robe and a turban”. 2 Chronicles
6:41 says: “... Let your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation
...”. As Paul also uses it in Romans
13:14 (“put on the Lord Jesus Christ”), this interpretation is more
likely. [
NJBC]

Verse 28: Romans
10:12 is similar: “there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same
Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him”. See also Colossians
3:11. [
CAB]

The parallels are Matthew
8:28-34 and Mark
5:1-20. [
NOAB] The account here is very close to that in Mark.

Verse 26: “Gerasenes”: Gerasa was a city of the Decapolis,
a federation of ten cities of Hellenic culture in an area east of Samaria and Galilee.
Gerasa was about 50 Km (30 miles) southeast of the Lake of Galilee. While Gergesenes
and Gadarenes are found in some manuscripts, “Gerasenes” is the
best attested reading. From a geographical viewpoint, this story presents problems.
Swine have no sweat glands, so they would not survive a 50 km rush down to
“the lake” (v.
33, the Sea of Galilee) from Gerasa; on the other hand, Gergesa is thought to
have been close to the shore of the Sea. Gadera was about 8 Km (5 miles) from the
Sea, but this would still be a long way for pigs to run! The story is moving at a
symbolic level. [
BlkLk] [
NJBC] [
OBA]

Verse 27: “demons”: Demons were thought of as non-material
existences of a personal sort, hostile to God. The gospels reflect the widespread
dread of demons and a general sense of helplessness when faced with demonic activity.
See also Matthew
4:24;
8:16,
28;
9:32;
15:22; Luke
4:33;
13:11,
16. Per Revelation
9:1-11;
11:7;
17:8;
20:1-3, demons are ultimately under God’s control. [
NOAB]

Verse 27: “had worn no clothes”: Comments: People who had
been deprived of their liberty (e.g. prisoners) lost the right to wear clothes.
Other examples were slaves (see Isaiah
20:2-4), prostitutes (see Ezekiel
16:38-40), demented people (see 1 Samuel
19:23-24) and damned people. [
NJBC]

Verse 29: “unclean spirit”: The spirit was considered “unclean”
because the effect of the condition was to separate the person from the worship of
God. [
NOAB]

Verse 30: “‘Legion’”: A Roman legion consisted
of 6,000 foot soldiers. Perhaps the man is saying that his personality has lost unity,
that he has multiple personalities, as did a legion. [
BlkLk]

Verse 31: “abyss”: Elsewhere in the New Testament the Greek
word occurs only in Romans
10:7 and Revelation
20:1-3 (“pit”). There it is the abode respectively of the dead and
of evil spirits. It occurs frequently in the
Septuagint translation of the Old Testament; there it means sea. Luke
may be connecting the depths of the sea with the abode of evil spirits. The
demons are, in the story, literally assigned to the Sea of Galilee. [
BlkLk] [
NJBC]

Verse 32: “swine”: Roman might was symbolized by a very fecund
sow that gave birth to thirty piglets, and by the wild boar. The wild boar was the
symbol of the Legio X Fretensis; this legion was stationed in Syria, and fought
in the Jewish revolt of 66-70 AD. See also
15:15-16 (the Prodigal Son feeds the pigs). The pig was the most frequently used
sacrificial animal in Greek and Roman worship. For Jews, eating pork was equivalent
to paganism and apostasy from Judaism. See 2 Maccabees; 4 Maccabees; Isaiah
65:1-5. [
NJBC]

Verse 35: “at the feet of Jesus”: The posture of a follower
of Jesus. In
10:39, Mary, sister of Martha, sits at Jesus’ feet to listen to what he
is saying. In Acts
22:3, Paul says that he was “brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel”,
the great teacher. [
NJBC]